What happens in the first two seconds you initially meet someone? Do you pick up on more than their expression, hair, or clothes? Do these snap judgments impact us more than we realize? And how powerful are they, truly?

Malcolm Gladwell blends psychological thinking and his pen to change the way we think. Bringing together stories from military men to musicians, from speed-dating to saving lives, Gladwell introduces the theory of thin-slicing – “the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.”

I was dazzled by Blink, despite the fact that it was assigned for school. Categorized as nonfiction, the book seems to land in every genre. Any previous schema will be shattered as Gladwell brings our most accepted societal theorems down for recycling. And everything goes – from how much we really control our own race preferences, to “locked door” priming, to the disastrous consequences when our snap decisions are pushed into tight situations.

And all the while, the stories to prove the stats are immensely entertaining. Gladwell delves into every scenario as a masterful writer, only these are real people, and the scope and depth of the research astounds. Particularly amazing is the way Gladwell describes the arrival of each main player – again, all real people – as if he is doing the thin-slicing for you. The scene’s set, the predicament tangible, and the excitement high; all you have to do is blink.